


He Came In Peace

by darlingsdream



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Aliens, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Eventual Relationships, Falling In Love, Galra Keith (Voltron), Getting to Know Each Other, Healing, Hurt/Comfort, Keith/Lance (Voltron) Angst, Lance lives in the desert, M/M, Minor Character Death, Pining, Romance, Scientist lance (voltron), klance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-18
Updated: 2019-10-18
Packaged: 2020-12-23 17:11:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,291
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21084908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darlingsdream/pseuds/darlingsdream
Summary: When Keith finally is able to escape the wrath of his commanding officer, Lotor, he finds himself crash-landed on Earth with a dead alien and a space cat.Just when Lance thought his life was really all that boring, he finds himself taking in an alien. The only thing he can think about is, what if the Garrison finds out?***Or: Keith's an alien, and Lance, a Garrison Scientist, just so happens to take him in.





	He Came In Peace

**Author's Note:**

> Was this fic inspired to me after listening to Backpack by Justin and ET by Katy Perry?  
Yes sir it was.
> 
> [ Offical Playlist ]  
Backpack - Justin Bieber  
E.T. - Katy Perry  
Little Talks - Of Monsters and Men  
NASA - Ariana Grande  
Blow Me One Last Kiss - P!nk  
Funhouse - P!nk

“Hunk, do you ever worry that someday you may just not ever see them again?” Lance’s cold and tired voice could have been heard from inside the vacant house. 

It was a cool November night in Texas, the moon was shining brightly along with the millions of stars that littered the sky. Laying on top of the metal roof of his broken down and abandoned house, Lance laid with his sweatshirt behind his head, his phone settled on his chest.

“Lance, our situations are very different,” Hunk breathed out, the sound of rustling echoing from the device. “But sometimes, yeah, I do. I really do. But I know my family wouldn’t let that happen. They would beat The Garrison leaders to death to get to me... and Lance, your family would do the same for you.”

Closing his electric blue eyes, he sighed. His body gave a small shake of protest as he uncrossed his right and left leg, only to cross them the opposite way.

“I know. I know,” Lance mumbled under his breath, his hands tapping against the metal roof. “It just scares me being alone like this sometimes, you know? It’s been about a year and we still haven’t gotten any information about the protection program.”

The small phone on Lance’s chest lit up with a bright yellow. Where it once dully said “paused” finally changed to the sheets of Hunk’s bed. The camera shifted several times before he flipped it, now showing his equally tired expression.

“This makes me feel like a lab rat more than a free human most days. I understand that we’re able to leave whenever and return, just not see our families. It’s... odd,” Hunk’s face lit with disappointment as he laid himself down in bed.

Twisting and shifting his legs once again, Lance reached over to grab his phone. He lifted it to his face, giving the camera a half-hearted smile before flipping the camera and pointed it to the stars that shined brightly above him.

“Out of all the bad things this job has given me, this is one thing that surely makes up for it,” Lance chuckled, repeating the same words he would say at least one month, just to give himself some sense of reality.

“I wish I had a view like that,” Hunk sighed slightly in admittance, bringing his own phone closer to his face. “The cities here in Oceania are insane. It’s always so bright here. I don’t think I’ve seen stars since we started this job two years ago,” he sighed thoughtfully.

Giving an absent-minded smile, Lance twisted on his back, now laying on his stomach. He placed the camera out onto the distance where it showed a vast landscape of nothing but gravel and sand. “I wish I had some buildings around at least.”

The two stayed in silence for a bit longer, just enjoying the ability to hear each other breath. Just two years ago, the two were best friends living in Florida with their families. They were next-door neighbors. Now, they took this scientific job for The Garrison which lasted several years and required them to work in different places across the world. World round were “scientists” that were stationed to monitor unusual casualties in the world’s rifts. The issue being, no one was allowed to know what they were doing, not even their families. It wasn’t told to them before they signed their contracts. That’s how The Garrison worked.

“I should get ready to head out soon,” Hunk spoke, finally breaking the silence. “I’m meeting with a girl I recently met when I was walking around the park... She’s nice,” he spoke sheepishly.

Lance simply smiled still. During his time in Texas, the only time he got human interaction was when he took the old corolla he was given to town, and there too it was just as empty. However, he knew everyone there, and they knew him as well.

“Okay,” Lance finally breathed, not wishing to let go of this. He couldn’t get this close to anyone near him, he was scared something would slip out and the officers at The Garrison would be all over him.

“Be safe buddy, love ya,” he quickly said before hitting the end call button, not allowing Hunk to say anything after. A pinch of guilt bit at him as he stared at the now empty screen.

Pushing away his thoughts rather quickly, Lance sat upon his knees. On the other side of the roof was an old beat-up radio he had set up, a bunch of foil hanging off of the antenna. 

Crawling over to it with caution, he began to fiddle with the buttons. Receiving loud static from the machine, he turned the volume down to a low hum as he continued to fiddle with the controls.

Finally, after three turns the tune button, the low hum of a familiar song began to play. A fond smile began to play on Lance’s face as he turned the volume up, now leaning back onto the roof.

It was Lost In You by Khai Dreams. It was a song he had heard many times on the soothing music station he found when he first started his job out here in Texas. The song had become something that related to him a lot, and sure enough, it made him feel a bit better inside about his whole situation of being completely and utterly alone.

As he slipped his navy blue sweatshirt filled with holes back behind his head, he crossed his legs in the air once again. His hands laid on his chest, folded over on each other.

The music drowned out the familiar hum of bugs that still lived in the somewhat still warm weather. It didn’t ever quite get cold in Texas unless if a large cold front and storm was brewing.

Slowly blinking back up to the stars, Lance hummed along with the music that played beside him. Dust blew back and forth through the air as small gusts of cool air danced around him.

This was something Lance had become so used to. Five out of the seven days of the week he would come up here to watch the night pass along and to watch the stars. It gave him the feeling that this, this was real. Not the programs he was focused on half the day, not the thought of the atmosphere breaking, not whatever was there for him on the Garrison. But this, the stars, they were real, they were out there, and somewhere in Florida his family was looking at the same sky.

His blinking became slower as he trained his eyes on certain stars, attempting to find every constellation he could lay his eye on.

By the fifth time his eyes landed on the big dipper, he breathed out harshly at a certain thought. If a star died, how would it affect the constellations he saw? Would they be missing a piece? Would it look bad?

Then it came to him; stars were like humans. Some of them were never acknowledged. Some of them were never known by many. Some of them were so far out of reach... and some of them were so close. If one were to die out, it would affect some, but others, they didn’t even know they existed and they wouldn’t care.

“Fuck,” Lance’s brittle voice cut through the air. His throat was strained as he ran his hands over his face several times.

If some beast out here in the middle of nowhere didn’t kill Lance first, it would be his own mind that would at any given moment if he thought for too long.

Hours passed by quickly. Lance’s eyes were still strained on the sky as the only thoughts that now came to his mind was about what he would be doing after his job was completed five years from now, if they even let him off that easy.

The coloring of the sky was changing. Instead of the heavy dark blues and grays of the night, dark pinks began breaking into the sky, mixing with light blues and dark ones. To an untrained eye, if a photo were taken of the sky and the stars were still not shining so brightly, it could have been easily mistaken for a child’s artwork.

A slight twinkle in the sky awoken Lance’s attention. He was tired, but couldn’t bring himself to stand up and climb down the side of the house.

As he watched the sky more intensely now, he saw another flash of light. Across the sky, thousands of miles away from him, it looked like a shooting star was blazing through the sky slowly.

It had been months since Lance had seen such a shooting star with brilliance. A flame followed behind it, trailing faded reds and oranges behind it.

Closing his eyes thoughtfully, he rested both of his hands over his eyes. His chapped lips parted slightly as he thought of what to say.

_ Make a wish. _

“I wish I wasn’t so lonely,” his tight voice finally spoke as he slowly began to remove his soft hands from his face.

Far, far away, the shooting star still shot through the sky. Lance couldn’t help but smile to himself wickedly.

Although being twenty-one and a grown man, Lance was still a little child at heart. He didn’t wish to have a job, he didn’t wish to be alone, he didn’t wish to be all serious and whatever.

He wanted to be a kid again, and in fact, he still acted like one. He still wished on shooting stars, he still dreamed vividly at night, and every night at eleven eleven he was whispering to God, hoping his family was kept safe.

He was too innocent and soft for his own good.

As the night brisked into a peaceful morning, Lance had been unable to keep his eyes open much longer. As the burning hot Texas sun rose at six in the morning, Lance was left dead asleep on the metal roof of his house, wearing a pair of dark blue jeans and a gray shirt.

The radio still hummed out peaceful tunes as loud buzzing began to accompany it, signaling that the heat bugs had been awoken for the day.

If it wasn’t for the loud but distant sound of a large boom, Lance would have surely slept the day away on that hot roof, burning like a piece of meat.

But within seconds, Lance was sitting up, his sweatshirt on his head as sweat dripped down his forehead. Looking straight into the endless desert before him, he saw something he had never seen before. A sight that left him in utter shock. A sight that took his breath away so easily as well.

About several miles in front of him, a large dazzling ball of fire was falling from the sky. At first, Lance could have sworn that the heat was getting to him. It wouldn’t have been the first time that he had hallucinations from heat exhaustion.

As he focused harder on the literal ball of fire falling from the sky, he realized two things. Not even two hours ago was there a shooting star, and two, dust was beginning to fly everywhere, even towards him.

In quick thought, Lance dug into the pocket of his hoodie. Pulling a pair of large black sunglasses out, he places them onto his face. Digging into the other pocket of his hoodie, he pulled a black and blue cloth from it. He spared no second in tying it around his nose and mouth, his eyes still watching closely over whatever was about to make contact with the land before him.

Three minutes later, another loud boom was heard. The hot roof under Lance began to shake violently as dust and sand began to fill the air, settling on his entire body.

Lance jumped up quickly, screaming in pain. He hunched over himself, trying to dust off the burning hot sand from his hair and body. His skin began to turn a brilliant red as more sand and dust landed on it, burning his skin.

Lance knew he was insane, he knew he was crazy, but as he climbed down the hot metal side of his house, and dusted whatever sand he could get off of him, he was slipping his sand-covered hoodie on, thinking one thing over in his mind.

_ He had to see what that was. _

Though he owned an old beaten up corolla, that was not what he was going to ride through the desert. Hidden behind the back of his house, where a large pool was, as well as a small greenhouse and plants that covered the entire area around his back yard, a small shed was hidden.

Lance made his way around the clean pool, stepping over the hundreds of vines in front of him as he made a run for it towards the shed.

When he opened the dark door of the shed, dust blew up in the air. Sitting inside the shed was a large high-tech hoverbike that no one knew existed. Each of the “scientists” from The Garrison had one hidden near their location.

Tugging the large piece of machinery out into the open, Lance pulled the blue helmet that laid on the floor of the shed onto his head. Pressing two fingers down on the side of the helmet, a visor flipped down over his glasses, the helmet tightening around his chin and cheeks. Adjusting the cloth over his nose, he sat on the back of the hoverbike.

Placing his hand on the control system of the bike, it lit up like a Christmas tree. It revved up loudly, almost like it was purring. It lifted several feet off the ground, causing, even more, burning hot sand to rise with it.

Leaning forward with his hands wrapped harshly around the handlebars of the bike, Lance murmured a silent prayer under his breath as the machinery started moving forward slowly. 

Twisting his hands forward on the bars, the bike revved forward loudly, taking off at a hundred miles an hour.

* * *

“You’re so ungrateful!” a loud and threatening voice echoed into the control room. The figure standing in front of the screen turned slowly with an unamused growl.

“I’m not fucking ungrateful!” the thing hissed out, it’s pointed purple ears moving back like a frightened cat. “It’s been ten god damn years since I’ve seen my mother or father, and you expect me to be okay with that? I’ve been working for you like a fucking slave since then, Lotor! What makes you think this is okay?” the thing wheezed, raising its hands dangerously.

The thing resembled a human boy. It was short, much shorter than the figures that stood around him. He had long purple hair that curled up at the ends, and long bangs that covered the yellow glowing eyes that belonged to the thing.

“You are not a slave,” the other being wheezed out, seemingly very offended. This being looked more human than the other. It had fair light purple skin and slightly pointed ears. It had long white hair as well.

The cat-like being looked even more offended and irritated than before. “You think keeping me here and working for you like this is not me being a slave? I kill people, for you! I work behind hot controls, for you! I work daily in the arenas, fighting whatever innocent creature you send me, for you! Because if I don’t, you’ll beat me! And if I try to leave, you’ll send every single guard here after me, and bring me back, dead or alive!”

The two of them stood in utter shock, staring at one another. Several other beings that looked similar to the cat-like being stood in silence, all staring down at the two small beings. Compared to them, they were pipsqueaks, standing around five feet eight inches while the others stood around seven and eight feet high.

“You don’t treat Ezor, Acxa, or Zethrid like you do to me! You treat them as equals, while me... you just use me! Of course, I want to leave your fleet, you treat me like shit! I want to go back to my family, or even go with Narti!” the cat-like being hissed again at Lotor, clenching its hands into fists.

Lotor’s expression stayed still for a moment. A realization hit him like a bucket to the head though, because in seconds flat he was laughing devilishly into his sleeve.

“You want to go with Narti?” he repeated, now slowly walking into the control room, his eyes only on the being that dared to call him out.

The thing nodded, blinking hesitantly. The glow of its yellow eyes increased as Lotor came closer.

“Then let’s bring you to her and switch things up, why don’t we do that, Keith? Does that sound good to you?” he wickedly spoke as he rose a hand to its cheek.

The being- Keith- smacked at the hand with full force, causing all of the other Galran beings to gasp in complete shock.

No one ever touched a commanding officer like that.

Lotor gave a sarcastic laugh as he pulled his hand back closer to his body. His eyes were screaming with something that Keith could no longer read.

“Let’s go,” he growled, turning his back to Keith.

Hesitantly, he followed. He would never admit it out loud, but Keith was petrified beyond belief. After ten years of working under an abusive person, he finally spoke out, saying how much he hated Lotor for how he treated him and that he wished to know where his parents were sent off to.

Now, the said devil himself was leading him to Narti, his only savior during this time. She was his mother’s closest friend and someone who became a holding post for Keith during his parents’ sudden disappearance.

After searching through the ship for less than an hour, the two came to hold at the quarters of Narti herself.

“Narti, we have someone here who wishes to speak with you,” Lotor’s venison voice spoke slyly as he began to push the much smaller being in front of him.

Narti turned immediately, recognizing the energy in the room. She was not one to talk a lot, but she would never speak in front of Lotor. It was a rule she created for herself.

“Narti!” Keith’s small breathy voice inched towards her as he began walking into the room he was so familiar with. The cat-like animal that had been sprawled across her shoulders jumped, landing on the floor beside Keith’s feet.

“Please, please take my custody from Lotor. If I go another day with his abuse I don’t think I’ll be able to make it,” he began to whisper, his glowing golden eyes filling with fear.

Narti tilted her head to the side, now eyeing Lotor.

It looked like she was going to say something, it really did, but as Keith stared more intensely at her, something he wished he could unsee happened, right in front of him.

Her head snapped violently to the right. Blood splattered everywhere, from the walls to the floor, to even on Keith’s armor.

His jaw dropped as her body landed on the floor lifelessly.

Keith held a choked sob as he rose his hand over his mouth, instantly turning with watering eyes to see Lotor, standing behind him with a gun rising to him now.

“Do you still want to leave me?” he spoke heavily and musky.

All Keith could do was stare in silence. He was shaking badly now, and anxiety was raising in his mind. Narti was just murdered in front of him. The only person that was worth even living for on this ship was gone.

And he was staring right at her murderer.

“I’m glad we’re clear here,” Lotor smugly spoke, holstering his gun now. “I’ll give you no less than twenty minutes to get this cleaned and to get over this. I want you to report back to the control unit.”

Keith watched intently as Lotor began to exit the room in silence.

The second he knew he was out of earshot, he turned to see the body, laying soundlessly on the floor. Her cat, Kova, was now standing on her chest, pawing at her face.

Without thinking, Keith picked Kova tenderly in his arms. She purred slightly, whimpering as he placed her under his arm and close to his chest.

One word was echoing through his mind now as he bent down beside Narti’s unresponsive body.

_ Escape. _

_ Escape. _

_ Leave while you can. _

_ Get the hell out of here before you’re next. _

_ They probably did the same to your parents. _

He picked Narti’s body up with his right arm, allowing her lifeless body to drape over his shoulder. He suppressed a sob, instead a cold expression playing on his face. He didn’t know how to react, he didn’t know what to do, and he didn’t know how to feel.

He was walking out into the hall already, the coldest and hardest expression on his face, similar to the same expression he wore when his parents apparently “disappeared on a mission”.

He knew no one would question him as he made his way to the escape pods. He had higher access than everyone besides Lotor and his ‘gang’ on this ship alone.

They would believe he’s disposing of the body.

And that would be the perfect time to escape.

* * *

Keith was full-on screaming at this point. His body was becoming unresponsive as his own features began changing without his permission, causing cracking sounds to pop over and over again in small escape ship.

The dark purple tint to his skin was changing into the familiar pale and soft skin that belonged to a human. His hair was becoming slightly shorter and changing into a dark black. His eyes no longer glowed with yellow, but with a light vibrant purple as he blinked, now showing proper irises. 

His cat-like ears stayed though, twitching uncontrollably as he screamed at the control panel.

He was wheezing, sobbing, shaking, and coughing all at once. Nauceousness was beginning to take him over as the escape pod began barrel rolling in the air.

The dead body beside him was slumped against his shoulder.

The said dead person’s cat was in his lap, clawing at his armor and hissing.

He just escaped with a hitch from his prison of ten years.

_ And he was never going to see his loving parents again. _

He wheezed again, finally gaining some self-control of his body. “Fuck! Fuck everything! Fuck Zarkon, fuck Lotor! Fuck me!” he screamed heavily in pain, his throat burning.

His hands curled around protectively around the cat in his lap. The cold, wet, salty tears from his eyes dripped down his puffy red cheeks, landing on the poor soft fur of the small animal.

“I’m so sorry,” he heaved, looking over to the dead body slumped against him. “I’m so fucking sorry,” he wheezed, eyes closing tightly as he leaned against it with no care.

It was like losing a family member, especially when that family member was the only thing that gave you happiness in your own prison.

A painful sob wrecked itself from the back of his throat as he threw his head back, his legs slamming into the floor over and over again. He wanted to kill something, someone, anything. He wanted to give it pain. He wanted something out there to feel the pain he was feeling.

His head was pounding in several different places, his body ached from the years of physical torture he endured, he felt like he was being strangled by his armor as his throat burned from screaming, and his mental stability was snapping quickly.

He just watched the one person he had left die and he did nothing to protect them.

He screamed even louder, eyes shut so tightly that his face was becoming numb.

So many thoughts were racing through his mind. He didn’t remember the last time he smiled, he didn’t remember the last time he ate real food, real human food from the place he belonged. He didn’t remember what Earth looked like anymore or even himself. He didn’t remember what his parents looked like either, and the pain just kept getting worse and worse as he slammed his head into the controls, wanting nothing but to just end it all right there and them.

But he didn’t survive all those years for nothing.

With his body weak from insufficient sleep, food, and physical work out, he slumped against the pod wall in defeat, his cries and shouts finally seizing.

No matter how much he screamed, he wouldn’t be back on Earth again with his mother and father.

No matter how much he screamed, he wouldn’t be able to take away all the years of mental and physical abuse he had been through.

No matter how much he screamed, Narti wasn’t going to come back to life magically beside him, and her death was all his fault.

Sleep began overtaking the boy who looked so beaten and tired, bringing him off his edge. His facial expression began to soften as his eyes closed finally, his lips parting as his breathing began to even out.

* * *

Lance coughed heavily as he neared the still large smoke of sand. Pressing heavily on the controls of the hoverbike, the vehicle dipped vertically down, following the holes in the sand.

Lifting one hand from the controls, he placed his left arm over his nose and mouth as he approached whatever had crashed, the vehicle slowing under his command.

Though the noise of the hoverbike drowned out almost everything else Lance could hear, the distant sounds of a whimpering animal could be deciphered.

An animal must have gotten hurt by whatever had crashed he concluded. Lance squinted under his glasses and visor, trying to make out whatever was hidden behind the smoke in front of him.

As he neared it with caution and slowness. The vehicle gave a small roar before lowering onto the unsettled sand beneath it.

The distant sound of whimpering hadn’t faded. Worries began flooding his mind as he began shutting down the controls of the hoverbike, causing the low hum of it to stop completely.

If something had been injured by whatever just came hurtling down from the sky at a thousand miles an hour, it was sure to die. But he couldn’t leave it in the dust, smoke, and fire to suffer. He would need to extract it from the scene and see if there was anything he could do to save it. It wouldn’t be right for him at all to just simply leave it there to die, alone in the hazy fires.

Slowly, Lance began to slip himself off the bike. His dark blue jeans were covered in a thick layer of dirt and dust, his grey shirt now a yellowish color. He looked disoriented in his mixed-matched clothing with the blue helmet, black glasses, blue cloth, and gray beaten up shoes.

The distant whimpering became louder to Lance now as he stood blindly in the haze of smoke and dust. Now that the humming of the bike wasn’t messing with his ears, he could hear clearly now.

It wasn’t the whimpering of one creature, but two instead. 

Lance leaned forward slightly, his legs spread apart slightly. One hand was reached out in front of him, the other still covering the cloth over his nose.

He would be lying if he didn’t say he was completely and utterly scared.

But at the same time, this could be something huge for his job. What was it that came hurtling from the sky? A piece of the star that had been shooting across the sky? A meteor?

Taking a small step forward, he listened as best as he could.

The sound of fizzling could be heart, the small buzz of distant insects, and the sound of a burning flame.

With another step forward, that was when he heard the small cry of a cat. It was nothing but a hoarse mewl, but it was distinct enough for him to decipher.

“I’m sorry!”

Lance flinched, taking several steps back as he did. The voice he heard was human, definitely human. It was rough and hoarse and surely belonged to a male.

But that was not what he was concerned about.

No one lived within forty miles from here besides him. The town that was anywhere near here was seventy miles, and from that distance, there was no way another person could have seen the object hit.

Why was there another person here?

What were they doing?

What did they just find in all this smoke?

Another loud mewl broke his thoughts, a loud and drawn out hiss following.

“I know... Fuck, I know!” the voice spoke again, thickly and tight. “I’m sorry! Please hang in there, please, please!” the voice pleaded, a human sob following.

Lance croaked back whatever nerves were crawling up his throat as he began to walk forward again.

“Hello? Who’s there!” he called out loudly, still moving forward through the smoke. Now, a few feet in front of him, he could make out a large black figure and a purple haze.

There was a hesitant pause.

“H-Hello?” the voice called out weakly, almost as if it were scared.

Lance hesitated no more as he began to rush forward, closer to the large black figure.

However, standing before him was no person. There was no meteor. There was no fallen star.

Lance stared with wide eyes at the broken and fiery ship in front of him. Around him, the smoke had begun to clear, forming a large circle around the charted debris.

An ominous purple hue hazed off the ship in it’s broken form.

He felt sick. Utterly sick and dizzy. There was no way that this was an actual  _ ship _ .

The only company that dealt with creating ships was The Garrison. Working with them in the high ranks gave Lance the access in seeing the new models of every ship, robot, and artillery machinery that was built.

This was not created by them. In fact, looking at the broken panels and wires, none of it looked human-made.

Another sob echoed around him.

Stepping around the broken debris of the ship, Lance began searching for the source of the sobs.

Thinking on it; there was no way that whatever he was going to find was going to be human. 

No one lived near here beside him.

This  _ ship _ was not human-made.

“I fucking killed him!” the voice bellowed in a croaked sob. Lance flinched, now walking even faster around the debris.

Whatever he was about to find wasn’t going to be pretty.

Another howl of pain came from what he could only suppose was a cat. It hissed and groaned.

Making a second turn around the ship, Lance saw a clear walk away between two fiery pieces. Fear was present in his eyes as he slipped between the pieces.

It only took him a few steps forward to reach the sight he was dreading to see.

Whatever parts were spread around him belonged to the control panel of the ship. Two destroyed seats were laying on top of a large piece of debris.

Sitting in the middle of all the mess were two slouched figures.

Through the slight haze, Lance could make out exactly what he was looking at.

A man- or boy, he looked rather young from how small he looked- was sitting in the middle of all of it, covered in blood, ashes, and smoke. He had dark, long hair, which was covered in sand. Their face was ducked down into their lap.

They were wearing heavy-duty armor. It was black, purple, and glowed.

It was glowing.

It was fucking  _ glowing _ .

Laid beside his arm was another figure. It wasn’t human. That _ thing  _ was not human.

It was wearing a black hood and heavy armor with large shoulder pads. The armor was dark black, light purples, oranges, and neon blues streaking through it.

It’s face- or what Lance would believe was its face- was distorted. Thick red blood was dried against its face from a gaping wound its left temple. It had sharp-pointed teeth that showed from under its front lip, and from what he could make of it, it didn’t exactly have human eyes or a nose.

And whatever was laying behind it was a tail.

That was surely a blue tail.

And whatever that thing was; it was  _ dead _ .

The boy wheezed, catching Lance’s attention. The boy sat up slightly, his head still hung low. Now, he could see what was sitting in his lap.

It was a cat, or what highly resembled a human cat at least. Its body was black, covered in markings that were very similar to the armor of the other creature. It had large ears as well, and the thing was covered in blood.

Slowly, the head of the boy rose.

He looked completely human.

With the exceptions of the large, pointy, fuzzy, purple ears that flicked right up as he made eye contact with Lance.

That wasn’t the most startling thing about him.

His eyes were glowing purple.

The two were in silence as they stared at one another, both at a loss for words. The  _ boy  _ gave continuous sniffles as it tried to calm its breathing.

Slowly and tenderly, the  _ boy _ cradled the kitten in its arms as it began to stand. The creature that once had its head leaning against its shoulder slumped to the sand lifelessly.

“I-I come... in peace...” the  _ boy _ spoke breathlessly as he took a small step away from the wreckage beside him.

Looking down at the beaten animal in his arms, he looked back up to Lance with pleading eyes.

“I... I understand i-if this is too much, b-but please... please help me.... He’s going to die if I don’t do something,” his strangled voice came out in quick breaths, almost too quiet for Lance to hear.

Lance studied the boy for a moment longer before motioning to the creature that laid limply on the ground.

“Is... is it dead?” he muttered in a loud tone.

Turning his head over his shoulder, the boy eyed the figure beside his feet. His eyes shut tightly as more tears began flooding down his face.

He simply nodded.

Turning his head over his shoulder, Lance eyed the beings that sat behind him on the hoverbike.

The boy sat closely behind him, the dead creature was cradled in his lap, the cat curled in an awkward position on its chest. One hand was held protectively on the cat to keep it from falling, the other holding onto the side of the hoverbike.

Lance spun his head back around, gulping.

He was unsure what to make of this situation as he brought the hoverbike higher into the air, now reaching seven feet off the ground.

He could tell The Garrison about this. There was never any proof of extraterrestrial life until this very moment. He could become famous for finding these beings.

_ Maybe they would let him return home- _

The thought was whisked away from his mind quicker than it was brought into it.

He couldn’t report this to The Garrison.

He couldn’t tell anyone about this.

This boy- this creature, it was human like. Everything about him was human beside the ears. It was  _ sobbing  _ as it cradled it’s dying cat.

It had feelings.  _ It was real. _

If he were to report this to The Garrison, they would take him away, experiment on him, pick him apart until there was nothing left, and show him off to the public.

He had to have had a life before this, a place to call home, a family to call his own.

It seemed to cruel to allow such a thing to happen.

If he reported it to The Garrison, they would dissect the dead creature that laid in the boy’s lap. That would not be right at all. The being deserved to be properly buried instead of picked apart for “science”.

If he reported it to The Garrison, the cat that the boy wanted to save would be taken, most likely killed, and picked apart too. That wouldn’t be right either.

No living or dead being deserved to be dissected, picked apart, and ruined all for  _ “science” _ .

But as Lance took another look over his shoulder to the boy behind him, only one thought began boggling his mind.

What in tarnation was he going to do?

* * *

Digging the shovel into the sand once again, Lance turned his head over his shoulder to check on the boy who sat beside the ivory growing near the pool.

The cat was wrapped in a blanket, set on his knee. The creature’s body was laid beside him, hands folded on its chest, and a flower that the boy had plucked off one of the vines was set on its hands.

Finally, finishing the decent-sized hole, Lance placed the shovel onto the sand.

“The hole’s ready,” Lance croaked out, his throat dry from lack of hydration.

The boy shifted in the sand, placing the cat carefully onto the sand. Standing slowly, he bent down beside the boy, picking it up with ease.

Lance watched with a haunted expression as the boy turned to walk over to where he stood. He couldn’t help but tense as he watched him near.

He looked so intense. Most of his face was left to be unseen due to his unmanaged hair and the blood, dirt, and ashes that covered him. Though it was easy to see his bright, glowing eyes, and the frown on his broken, swollen lips.

Lance took a step back as he stood in front of the hole, looking down at the creature in silent respect before whispering something.

“I’m so sorry Narti. I should have just kept my mouth shut,” he mumbled, pressing his forehead against hers before placing her gingerly into the hole.

As he stood up, his eyes landed on Lance’s again. His features too were hard to make out due to the sand and dust on him, but his eyes, they couldn’t be mistaken.

They were blue, just like the ocean.

“May I bury her?” he asked. Each word was spoken slowly, a brief pause in between each word.

Lance gave him a perplexed face before bending down to retrieve the shovel. “Yeah... Yeah, of course.”

He extended the back of the shovel towards him, not taking a step closer. 

The boy nodded, taking the shovel bluntly.

“Thank you.”

Walking a bit away from the makeshift grave with his head turned towards the boy, he fully turned.

He probably needs his time, Lance thought as he made his way towards the bundle of blankets.

Settling down in the sand on his knees, Lance slowly picked up the blanket. A small hiss emitted from the cat as he did.

The blue and black blanket was drenched in blood now. Lance wasn’t sure how it made it through that crash, and surely, he wasn’t sure if it was going to make it much longer without being properly treated.

There was no way he could bring it into town to be checked. Everyone knew him there. Everyone knew he didn’t own a cat, and surely, everyone would know this is no Earth cat.

Biting on the inside of his cheek, Lance brought his attention back to the boy. He was already starting to bury the body.

“Hey,” Lance called out aimlessly. The boy snapped his head quickly into Lance’s direction, and for a moment, Lance thought that hurt.

“I’m going to bring him inside and see if I can do... anything.... When you’re done out here, you’re welcomed to come inside,” he quickly offered before standing up.

The boy nodded before turning back to the shovel.

As he turned and began his way back to his house, he couldn’t help but feel light-headed, sick, and confused. This all felt like a hazy, messed up dream. Blinking heavily as he made his way through the back door, he knew this was reality.

The screen door slammed behind him. The fresh smell of cinnamon greeted Lance.

Stepping over the few cans and papers that were littered around the almost perfectly clean house, he made his way through the dining room and into the small sliver of a kitchen.

The entire house was old, having the inside of a 1970’s home. Though, with his artistic abilities, Lance made the most of it. He had painted the walls to remind him of home. Each room was different.

He as well added flowers, potted plants, and lights around the house to give it an “aesthetic” vibe.

Turning the overhang lights in the kitchen on, Lance made his way to the double-sided sink.

Unwrapping the bloody blanket from the cat, he allowed it to drop to the clean black and white tiled floor. Holding the cat carefully under its arms, he set it in the right side of the sink.

The thing wobbled on its legs for a moment before they gave out, causing him to land in a heap on himself.

Lance cringed, feeling a bit sickened from the amount of blood on his hands.

Turning the warm water on, he turned the faucet so it ran the water over the cat. It mewled for a moment, but it didn’t try to fight back or hiss.

Hesitantly putting his hands on the cat, he began to rub the dried blood from its fur. The cat seemed okay with it as it lolled its head to the side of the sink.

Grabbing a hand full of the soap, he began to clean the open cuts he found deep under the cat’s fur.

As he finished rinsing the cat off, he pulled the dishtowel from the counter and began to dry the animal off. Looking up to the cabinets above him, he began to go through the medicine cabinet, pushing over several bottles before pulling out a roll of bandages.

He cut off several large pieces and wrapped each of the cat’s wounds. Each leg was scratched, a large gash was found at the base of its neck, and a burn was found at the end of its tale.

As Lance looked up once again to place the bandage roll back, he glanced out the window to the back yard.

The grave seemed to be finished. The shovel was pushed into the ground beside where its body was buried.

Standing a good distance from the upturned sand was the boy. His eyes were trained on the sky.

In a quick motion, he lifted his hand, and just simply flipped off the sky.

Lance attempted to suppress the laugh that urged to come out of him. Because honestly, what the fuck was he doing flipping birds at the sky?

His other hand lifted not too soon after, now sending both middle fingers high and proud to the sky.

“Fuck you!” he roared in a cheer as he jumped up a bit.

This time, Lance made no attempt to suppress his laughter. A few short-lived chuckles escaped him as he watched the boy from the window, jumping in the sand with both middle fingers raised to the sky.

* * *

“I’m not going to hurt you,” Lance soothingly coaxed as he rose the damp cloth to the boy’s face. He flinched back, pressing his back into the cough a bit harshly.

“It’s just a damp cloth,” Lance rolled his eyes, looking down at the rag in his hand. “The dirt needs to be cleaned off your face or all those wounds are going to get infected,” he explained calmly like he was talking to a child.

A nostalgic feeling rushed over Lance as he stared down at the small pouty face in front of him. He had done this so many times before with his little brothers and sisters.

Easing into the couch, the boy leaned forward a bit.

Since he entered the house not a word was spoken from him. His facial expression remained blank too.

Raising the cloth to his chin, Lance began to dap away the dirt and dried blood. The boy stared down at him intensely, making him feel a bit uncomfortable as he moved the cloth to his left cheek.

Slowly, Lance was beginning to get a defined image of the boy. He had a sharp-angled face, fair skin tone, two barely noticeable scars on his chin, sharp eyebrows, fairly plump and bruised lips, and a defined jawline.

He stared for a moment longer than intended as he dressed the last wound on his forehead.

Pulling back sharply, Lance rested on his knees as he bent down to open the box beside him. Pulling out Neosporin and a package of bandages, he stood back upon his knees.

He places the bandage box under his arm as he twisted the Neosporin open.

“This is Neosporin. It’s going to soothe the irritation of those cuts and help them heal faster,” he explained as he dotted his index finger with the tube.

“It may tingle a bit at first,” he warned before beginning to apply it to the first large cut on his chin.

The boy flinched under his touch.

“It’s cold,” the boy whispered his first words since entering the house. A wave of ease rushed over Lance at seeing that he was okay now to speak.

“Are you okay?” he simply asked, putting it out on the table. He met eyes again with the boy. He raised an eyebrow, hoping for some answer.

The boy hesitantly parted his lips, clearly in search for words before clasping them shut again. A second later, he opened them once again.

“Define what it is to be okay,” he muttered half-jokingly as he rolled his eyes, allowing them to land on the cat that laid beside him in a fresh blanket.

Lance offered a half-hearted smile as he began to open the bandages.

“Is it okay if I ask you... what exactly you are?” Lance shifted slightly, looking a bit nervous.

As the boy looked down at Lance, he felt uneasy. He hadn’t been this close to another human since Lotor had taken him from his home on Earth ten years ago. He was so used to seeing emotionless faces and having no one speak to him. This was unusual to him, seeing someone offer such expressions openly to him.

He could easily tell that the man in front of him was nervous.

“I’m human,” he answered slowly, trying to figure how to put it.

“But I’m also part... alien?” he added, questioning himself. Lance rose an eyebrow, his hands freezing mid air as he went to place a bandage on him.

“Wait... what?” Lance’s voice rose to a higher pitch as he spoke.

“I mean- I’m human, like you. I was born on Earth- it’s just I’m part alien. Well actually the species is called Galra... but I suppose you don’t know what that is,” the boy jumbled his words uneasily as the blue-kitten covered bandage was pressed to his wound with a little force.

Lance stared, baffled.

“What the fuck type of sorcery is that?”

The boy bit his lip, deciding whether or not to allow a laugh slip. The issue was, he hadn’t laughed in years, and the feeling felt foreign to him.

“My dad was from Earth. My mom crash-landed here. She was full Galra. They found each other, fell in love, and had me. I’m like a goddamn hybrid between human and space-cat.”

Lance just stared with wide eyes. His lips parted for a moment and he remained silent.

Suddenly, he just plopped down onto his legs, a full smile breaking out on his sand-covered face. His head tilted back as he began to full-on laugh.

And lord had it been long since he laughed like that.

“What the fuck? Just... honestly, what the fuck?”

He opened his eyes carefully, looking down at the floor. Sudden realization hit him.

An alien was sitting on his couch.

He chuckled unnervingly now, his expression turning grim.

“What the fuck...” he murmured, realizing the position he was in. This seemed so unreal and so messed up at the same time.

The two stayed silent for a while. Lance stared at the floor unnervingly as he tried his best to pull himself together, while the boy, who sat in front of him on the couch, stared down at him.

This was just as weird to him too. It had been years since he was on Earth, years since he saw someone that looked ‘normal’ to him, years since someone actually showed real human expressions.

“Keith.” The boy shifted on the couch, suddenly realizing he just spoke without actually forming a sentence.

He raised a hand, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“I mean- my name... it’s Keith,” he angrily sighed.

Lance perked up a bit, looking up now. “My name’s Lance,” he responded slowly back.

The two stared at one another again in awkward silence, Keith’s ears flicked back awkwardly.

Shaking his head, Lance began to stand up.

“You must be hungry, yeah?” he began to walk out of the room. Keith raised an eyebrow, swallowing as he began following Lance.

His eyes darted across the living room before he passed the threshold to what looked like the dining room. Each room was lit up nicely, each organized and having a different particularly nice scent.

Keith’s eyes lingered in the dining room for a moment. In the corner of the room, there was a door that lead to the back yard. On the wall, colors of blue and purple swirled together, resembling what he could only presume to be an ocean.

“Is there anything, in particular, you would like?” Lance’s voice called out distantly from the other room.

Turning his head to the next door frame, Keith made his way towards it, eyes still carefully darting around him as he did.

He felt unnerved and on edge. Why was this human being nice and not freaking out? Keith grew up with his parents telling him if they were found to be alien they would be taken.

Why hadn’t this human called anyone yet?

“It’s been a while since I’ve had food,” Keith recalled as he took a step into the next threshold. Lance was standing in the middle of the small, narrow room, head deep into the fridge.

Keith still could barely make out his features due to the sand and ashes on him.

“I haven’t had real human food since I was ta-” he paused, eyes widening at bit as they hit the floor. Too much, he thought. He couldn’t expose too much. He couldn’t open up about his past to a complete stranger.

He needed to think of a way to get out of here, but after that, where would he go? His ship was busted beyond belief, and there was no way he could have returned to space anyways. He couldn’t start a life here either, he had no idea how things worked here.

He was petrified.

“What was that?” Lance stood up from the fridge, eyeing Keith carefully.

“Nevermind,” Keith shook his head, a bitter taste entering his mouth. “Make whatever is easiest for you... I don’t even recall the names of food here,” he spoke sullenly before he abruptly turned back into the dinning room and disappeared from Lance’s sight.

This was the second time today that Lance knew he was insane and crazy. He knew he had lost his mind.

There was an alien in his house, that he willingly let in, none of the less. There was a dead creature- who was a girl- buried in the sand of his backyard. There was a dying cat laying on his sofa.

And he hadn’t even reported this to The Garrison. He knew he should have, but it wasn’t right. He knew it wasn’t.

The worst thing of all of this, though?

He wasn’t the least bit scared of the alien.

* * *

Lance walked into the dining room with two plates, both filled with steak, mashed potatoes, and corn.

Keith was sitting idling at the table, his large purple ears flicking back and forth. His fingers tapped at the wooden surface of the table tiredly.

“Hey,” Lance called out, voice sooth now. Keith perked up at his voice, ears flicking straight up as he turned to eye him.

A small smile was playing on his still dust filled face as he placed one of the plates in front of Keith.

“Steak, potatoes, and corn,” he spoke proudly as he placed the other plate on the table and pushed it so it slid in front of the chair across from Keith.

Hesitantly eyeing the food, he took a deep breath in, savoring the delicious smell that greeted him.

As Lance took his seat across from him, he picked up the fork quickly, digging straight into the steamy mashed potatoes.

Lance was sort of grateful as he watched Keith dig into the food with a pleasant expression.

No one else had entered this house since Lance moved in to begin his work.

It had gotten very lonely here, and really, Lance forgot how much he missed just having some company at all.

The two sat in silence as they ate.

Keith ate rather quickly, not once taking his eyes away from the plate of warm food. Lance watched silently at the way he dug at the food and ate it quickly like it would be taken from him any second.

“When was the last time you ate?” Lance questioned carefully once Keith had emptied his plate. With his hands clenched to his sides, Keith looked up slowly. His lower lip was caught under his teeth as he thought for a moment.

“I don’t remember,” he settled on saying, tone low, eyes half opened.

Lance held his composure as best as he good. It wasn’t hard to pick up on how his eyes widened slightly and the way his lips parted. 

“Okay then...” He straightened in his seat before standing. “Let me grab you another juice.”

Picking up both plates he walked back into the kitchen.

Keith sat alone for a moment, eyes training on the ocean painting on the wall in front of him. He felt warm for once. It wasn’t anything like it was back on the ship in space.

He didn’t feel cold. His body wasn’t shivering and his stomach wasn’t feeling hollow and empty. His throat wasn’t dry and his tongue didn’t have that weird texture it usually did when the day was coming to an end.

He didn’t feel like the room was spinning or that his body ached in pain tremendously. His eyes still hurt a bit but other than that, he felt different.

But in a better way.

* * *

Keith was sitting on the couch with his legs crossed, Kova still wrapped up in bandages and blankets on his lap.

Keith stared unblinking at the television in front of him that played a rerun of Friends. When the two had finished their dinner, Lance lead him back here and handed him a blanket and turned the television on before disappearing up a metal staircase in the corner of the room.

“I wonder if he went to inform anyone of us being here,” he vacantly spoke as his tired eyes flickered down to the cat in his lap.

With a tender motion, he ran a hand through the rough fur on Kova’s head. He received a small hiss before the animal mewled and readjusted itself.

Flinching his hand back, Keith returned his eyes back to the television. It was large with decent quality. It sat upon a wooden table, which was filled with wires, unknown boxes, and a few stray books.

Why was he still here? Sitting in a stranger’s house as if it wasn’t a big deal? 

He had the time to run away. He could stand up right now and run as far as he could.

But where would he go after that? Would whoever he ran into next be horrifying?

This guy wasn’t nearly as bad as how his mother and father described how humans would react in this situation. Lance was calm and seemed to want Keith to be okay.

So what was the rush?

The silent hush of footsteps tipping onto metal drew his attention to the flight of stairs.

He caught sight of the blue sweat pants first and bare, but very tan, feet. 

“Hey, sorry if I took long, the hot water wouldn’t run properly at first,” Lance’s voice broke into the room. It was softer than it was earlier at dinner, and less rough than it was when they first met several hours ago.

Standing at the bottom of the metal spiral staircase with his hand firmly wrapped around the support pole was someone looking very unfamiliar than the man Keith saw earlier.

Now, standing before him, was a much younger man. He had a dark complexion, mocha hair which was damp and now even curled at the ends, and eyes that reminded Keith of the blue stars that burned back up in space.

He would have to admit that it took him off guard for a second.

He rose his hands over his head, stretching out. “See you’re still watching Friends,” he commented as he leaned forward to catch a glimpse of the television.

Keith hadn’t missed the way the muscles in his arms flinched as he stretched out.

Lance wore a tight white tank top now along with loose blue sweatpants.

Now that he wasn’t covered in dirt, it was easy to make out his features. Such as the subtle cheekbones that stuck out slightly, and the dark freckles that littered his cheeks and shoulders.

Along with him now shedding several layers of dusty clothes, he could see Lance was lean and skinny. Long-limbed, but fit.

“Wait- you don’t know how to use a remote, do you?” Blinking heavily, Keith’s ears flicked back several times.

“No, not really,” he started, finally advertising his eyes. He’d admit, he did stare for a moment longer than it was socially necessary. “Not that I minded. This show is interesting and vaguely familiar to me.”

An easy smile perked up on Lance’s face.

“That’s great! I really like Friends,” he pointed out as he made his way closer to the couch. He paused for a moment before settling on the far left of Keith and Kova.

“How’s he doing?” he was quick to question. Slowly turning to meet eyes with him, Keith glanced back down to Kova. “I’m not sure. He stopped winning and has stayed rather still since I picked him up.”

Curling his lips in and raising an eyebrow, Lance leaned slightly forward closer to Keith to eye Kova.

“Now that I see him, I think he seems better than before.” He paused, backing up again. “I don’t mean for this to make you upset- but I’m seriously confused about how he didn’t die on impact,” he pondered for a moment before his innocent blue eyes caught again with Keith’s.

“He isn’t a normal animal. He was overly injected with high doses of quintessence.”

Lance did a quick double-take.

“Of what now?” he hesitated to ask.

“Quintessence. You know, the thing that makes life possible?”

Lance just stared absent-mindedly at Keith before nodding and slowly turning his attention to the show.

The two sat in silence for a few moments. It wasn’t all that awkward beside the mutual question lingering in the air.

_ Now what? _

While washing up, Lance had been thinking about this for a while. Clearly Keith’s ship was wrecked beyond belief. He couldn’t return back to whatever planet he came from unless if he were to obtain another ship.

Lance could probably get his hands on some spare parts from the Garrison and hook them up with the parts he was already working on.

But that was the issue. Where would he be returning to? How long would it take for him to get back? Would whatever Lance build be able to last through the heat and coldness?

But another thought ended up racking his mind.

Keith clearly was leaving somewhere. He wouldn’t have been on that ship for any other reason, would he?

Keith had nowhere to go, had he? He was stuck here for now.

But it wasn’t like Lance minded all that much.

“Uhm- so... hey,” he began unsteadily. “I’m not sure what happened with your ship... and I’m not going to push you to ask what happened if you don’t want to talk about it.” Lance shifted on the couch so his whole body would face Keith.

“But I just want you to know... you’re welcomed to stay here until we figure something out. If I was stuck in your position... I would really appreciate if someone could do the same for me. So don’t feel pressured or anything... okay? We’ll end up figuring something out.”

Why was Lance so calm during this? Why was he willing to open his house up to an intergalactic being?

Some things couldn’t be answered for how and why Lance did certain things.

All Lance would say was that this felt right to do.

“Oh- eh-... Okay... em, thanks...”

After that, they sat in steady silence.

So...

_ Now what? _


End file.
